Dementor
|affiliation=*Ministry of Magic *Azkaban *Death Eaters *Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry |related = Lethifold |class= Non-being |status=Extant, presumably decreasing in number }} A Dementor is a non-being and Dark creature, considered one of the foulest to inhabit the world. Dementors feed upon human happiness, and thus cause depression and despair to anyone near them. They can also consume a person's soul, leaving their victims in a permanent , and thus are often referred to as "soul-sucking fiends". They are known to leave a person as an 'empty-shell'. The Ministry of Magic employed Dementors as the guards of Azkaban prison, until mid-1996, when Lord Voldemort was sighted in the Ministry, and their defection to his side was realised. The Dementors supposedly led the Death Eaters and Voldemort into the Ministry of Magic. After the end of the Second Wizarding War in 1998, the Ministry was reformed, and Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt ensured that they were not used by the government again.30 July 2007 Bloomsbury WebChat with J. K. Rowling There are certain defences one can use against Dementors, specifically the Patronus Charm. Dementors hold no true loyalty, except to whomever can provide them with the most people to feed off. They cannot be destroyed, though their numbers can be limited if the conditions in which they multiply are reduced, implying that they do die off eventually. History Early history The island in the North Sea on which the wizard prison is built has never appeared on any map, wizard or Muggle. Perhaps the first resident, the sorcerer 'Ekrizdis', who practised the worst kinds of Dark magic, constructed a fortress and lured Muggle sailors there to torture and murder them. After his death, the various concealment charms placed on the island faded, and the Ministry became aware of the mysterious site's existence. Prison]] Those who entered to investigate the island came across Dementors. Fearing the potential reprisals of these dark entities should anyone try to evict them from their home, the Ministry decided to let the sizable colony stay, unmolested and unchecked. When Damocles Rowle was elected Minister for Magic in 1718, he insisted on using Azkaban instead, seeing the Dementors as an advantage because using them as guards would save expense, time, and trouble. This plan was eventually put into motion and, despite protests, Azkaban remained the prison of the wizarding world, mostly because of the complete lack of breakouts and breaches of security. From that point on, the Dementors served the Ministry of Magic as the guards of Azkaban, as it let them feed on the emotions of the prisoners within its walls. Somewhere between 1733 and 1747, Minister Eldritch Diggory visited Azkaban, and was horrified that the Dementors there brought nothing but death and insanity to the prisoners. He formed a committee to find alternate solutions, the least of which was to remove the Dementors, which sparked an argument that the Dementors might abandon the prison and head for mainland if they are deprived the souls of the prisoners. Diggory died of Dragon Pox while in office, thus disabling the committee to find alternates for Azkaban. Although many in the wizarding world felt they could rest easier in the knowledge that Dementors guarded Azkaban, making it virtually impossible for dangerous criminals to escape, some believed the Dementors to be untrustworthy, fearing their potential change allegiance to any dark wizard who could offer them more victims than the Ministry. Albus Dumbledore, in particular, thought it was a mistake for the Ministry to ever ally with such creatures, though Alastor Moody thought violent criminals such as Death Eaters deserved such treatment. 1993-1994 During the 1993-1994 school year, Dementors were sent to guard Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry against "mass murderer" Sirius Black, who had recently escaped from Azkaban in 1993. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry Potter had his first first encounter with a Dementor. Whenever he got near one, Harry was forced to relive his worst memory: hearing the last moments of his parents' lives before they were murdered by Lord Voldemort. The first of these encounters was on the Hogwarts Express, during which he was protected by the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin. While the Dementors were at Hogwarts, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore warned the students not to give the Dementors any reason to harm them. He refused to let the Dementors enter the School Grounds. Even when Sirius Black was found to have entered the school, and the Dementors wanted to help search the school, Dumbledore rightly refused to let them entrance. Harry endured a second encounter with a group of Dementors during a Quidditch match, causing him to lose consciousness and suffer a fall from his broom. He was that time rescued by Dumbledore, who slowed Harry's fall and then drove the Dementors away with a Patronus. They seemed to be particularly attracted to Harry because, due to his miserable childhood and many bad memories, he was particularly vulnerable to their influence. Professor Lupin later claimed that the atmosphere of excitement during a Quidditch Match would be like a feast to the Dementors, which they were unable to resist. To overcome the Dementors, Harry asked Lupin for assistance. Lupin began teaching Harry the Patronus Charm, using a boggart, which transformed into a Dementor in front of Harry. During the next Quidditch match Harry competed in, four Slytherins, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Marcus Flint, disguised themselves as Dementors to distract Harry. Although not yet capable of producing a fully formed patronus, Harry was able to perform the spell well enough to thwart their attempts and won the match, after which Professor Minerva McGonagall sentenced the offending students to detention and deducted fifty House Points from Slytherin. Harry's next encounter with the Dementors came when he, Hermione, and Sirius were attacked by a group of them in the Forbidden Forest; the three were saved by the intervention of a powerful and fully formed Patronus before the Dementors were able to take their souls via the Dementor's Kiss (defined below). Though initially believed (by Harry) to be the Patronus of his deceased father, this Patronus had in fact been conjured by Harry himself, who had travelled back in time with Hermione Granger using her Time-Turner (this technically counts as both Harry's third and fourth encounter with the Dementors, since, due to his time travelling, he experienced this same encounter twice). Harry's Patronus took the form of a stag, which was both the form his father's Patronus took and the form his father took as an Animagus. Because the Dementors tried to Kiss Harry during this encounter in the Forest, it was enough to convince the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge to have the Dementors removed from Hogwarts at the end of the school year. Dumbledore seemed very happy about this. 1995-1996 Harry met an apparent Dementor in the Triwizard Tournament; thinking that it was a real Dementor he conjured the Patronus Charm, and soon the Dementor stumbled and then Harry knew it was a boggart and soon cried 'Ridikkulus'. |left]] Harry's fifth encounter was in an alley near his home on Privet Drive, when he and his cousin, Dudley Dursley, were ambushed by two Dementors sent secretly and illegally by Dolores Umbridge. He successfully used the Patronus Charm and was subsequently rescued by a Squib named Arabella Figg. Harry was put on trial for his use of underage magic, but ultimately was not punished, as it was recognised as having been self-defence. Nearly a year later Umbridge revealed what she had done to Harry. By July 1996, all of the Dementors of Azkaban rebelled together against their employers to join Lord Voldemort, who offered them more victims. This aided the 1996 and 1997 escapes of Death Eaters from Azkaban. By mid-1996, the Dementors who had joined Voldemort were multiplying, thus causing an 'unseasonal' July mist. Cornelius Fudge also admitted they were factors in the British Prime Minister's recent decline in terms of public approval, as they were making people less happy in general. 1997-1998 In 1997, Dementors had free rein and were often seen roaming Muggle villages, casting their effects on the Muggles, who could not see them but were sure to feel their effects. trial courtroom]] During the 1997 infiltration of the Ministry of Magic, while Harry Potter was disguised as Albert Runcorn, he encountered the Dementors in the Muggle-Born Registration Commission court room, where they were used to take away convicted Muggle-borns after interrogation and to terrorise them during interrogation. Dolores Umbridge protected herself and the other questioners with a cat Patronus, which dissipated when Harry stunned her. Harry and Hermione then performed the charm to save the Muggle-borns who had yet to be interrogated from the Dementors. After Apparating to Hogsmeade, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off a Caterwauling Charm and hid under Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Unable to find them, the Death Eaters dispatched Dementors to attack the trio, and Harry was forced to cast his Patronus to protect them from being kissed. They were unable to Disapperate do to a Anti-Disapparition Jinx placed on the village. Harry drove away the Dementors, but almost gave the three away before Aberforth Dumbledore saved them and passed off Harry's stag as his own goat Patronus. Later, during the Battle of Hogwarts, the Dementors fought on the side of Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were attacked by large numbers of Dementors, and due to the horrific events they had experienced and witnessed, including the recent death of Fred Weasley, they all had difficulty summoning their Patronuses. In fact, Harry welcomed the fate that came with a Dementor's kiss, but Seamus Finnigan, Luna Lovegood, and Ernie Macmillan attacked the Dementors with their own Patronuses holding them at bay and encouraged Harry to do the same, allowing him to finally summon his Patronus, which caused the Dementors to scatter. Later, Harry encountered more Dementors in the Forbidden Forest, but the presence of James, Lily, Sirius and Lupin, summoned through the Resurrection Stone, shielded him from them. Post 1998 After the Second Wizarding War, the Ministry of Magic became headed by former-Auror and Order of the Phoenix member Kingsley Shacklebolt. Due to their actions during the war (allowing Death Eaters to escape back to Voldemort and joining forces with him themselves), Shacklebolt disbanded the Dementors as guards of the wizard prison. It is unknown where they went or what they did without their only known application. After the Dementors were removed from the prison, Aurors were placed in the prison as guards. Description Appearance Dementors have a humanoid shape, approximately three metres, or 10 feet high, and are covered in dark hooded cloaks of long ripped black cloth, making them closely resemble wraiths. Its body is greyed and decayed looking, like a decomposing corpse, and its breath sounds rattling, like it is trying to "suck more than air" out of a room. Its hands are "glistening, greyish, slimy-looking, and scabbed". They seem to exude cold. A Dementor's face has empty eye sockets, covered with scabbed skin. There is a gaping large hole where the mouth should be, which is used for sucking the soul out of the victim in a process called the Dementor's Kiss, leaving victims in a state generally considered worse than death. The Dementor pulls back its hood and sucks out its victim's soul, leaving the person an empty shell, alive but completely, irretrievably 'gone'. Unlike other creatures, who move through some means of physical support, Dementors can fly freely. The books describe them as able to glide over the ground only, and in any case, they cannot pass through solid obstacles. Dementors are also known to be blind, as they do not have any eyes. However, they can sense whether a presence is near them or not, by sensing the victim's emotions. Nature and behaviour Dementors seem to suck all the light and happiness from the air as they draw long rattling breaths, and cause darkness to close in everywhere and the victim to feel incredibly cold. They can glide toward a victim without sound, and they are sentient enough to taste and sense fear, being drawn to it and the promise of positive memories that it can feed off of. They are also intelligent enough to be greedy: they obeyed the Ministry of Magic for years because, in guarding Azkaban, they were provided with sustenance of any remaining hope or happiness in the prisoners. They can understand and follow at least simple instructions, which allowed a Dementor to act as a bodyguard to Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge in 1995, and for them to escort prisoners in and out of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission courtroom in 1997. They could communicate what they had heard Sirius Black saying in his sleep to the Ministry in 1993, implying that they can speak or otherwise communicate with wizards. Albus Dumbledore also said that Dementors are vicious creatures and won't distinguish between those they hunt and those that get in their way. He also informs the students to give Dementors no reason to harm them, saying that forgiveness is not in a Dementor's nature. Outside of Azkaban, Dementors appear to hunt for prey in groups of variable size, from as small as two to as large as greater than twenty. They appear to attack by first surrounding their targets, cutting off any escape, then descending upon them all at once to feed. Abilities Being blind, Dementors sense and feed on the positive emotions of human beings in order to survive, forcing their victims to relive their worst memories over and over again. The very presence of a Dementor can make the victim's surrounding atmosphere grow cold and dark, and as the number of Dementors increase, so do the effects. Those that are kept in the company of a Dementor for too long tend to become depressed, and are often driven insane, which was the main source of Azkaban's well-deserved horrible reputation when they still guarded its prisoners. After spending only a few months there, Rubeus Hagrid claims he wished he would die in his sleep. |left]] Dementors rely fully on their ability to sense emotion and physical and/or mental health to track the movements of the prisoners in their care, and are generally unable to distinguish one person from another if both are in similar physical or mental condition. They were unable to identify Mrs Crouch being sneaked into Azkaban disguised as Bartemius Crouch Jr using Polyjuice Potion, or Barty Crouch Jr being sneaked out disguised as his mother, since both were ill nearly to the point of death, as divulged by Bartemius Crouch Jr under the influence of Veritaserum in 1995 (though it may be that they simply did not care who they were sucking happiness from so long as they were "fed"). They can also not distinguish between humans and animals very easily; Sirius Black, an Animagus, escaped from Azkaban in his dog form. When he became his dog form during imprisonment, the Dementors thought he was losing his mind as his emotions were less human in his animagus form. Although Muggles cannot see Dementors, they are affected in a way similar to wizards and witches, becoming depressed when near them. While at least one Squib, Arabella Figg, has claimed to see a Dementor, the truth is that Squibs cannot see them, but have enough magical knowledge to identify their effects.Extra Stuff: Squibs at After Bartemius Crouch Jr's mother died in Azkaban, Dementors buried her body, which shows that Dementors are capable of physical labour, such as grave-digging. Also, Sirius escaped when the Dementors came to give food, another sort of labour. Also, Dementors can fly freely without support. It is stated by Remus Lupin that, if a wizard remains in close contact with Dementors for an extended period of time, a Dementor can drain a wizard of his powers. This is not touched upon after being mentioned, so the truth to this statement is unknown. If this is the case, however, it would make Dementors the only known being to permanently render a wizard without magic. Dementor's Kiss In addition to feeding on positive emotions, Dementors can perform their last and most dangerous ability: the Dementor's Kiss, in which a Dementor latches its mouth onto a victim's and sucks out the person's soul. The victim is left as an empty shell, incapable of thought and with no possibility of recovery. It is believed that existing after a Dementor's Kiss is worse than death: as a person's soul is their true self, to be 'kissed' by a Dementor is to cease to exist, and yet also remain. The Ministry of Magic occasionally allowed this as a punishment, before Kingsley Shacklebolt became Minister for Magic. It is unknown what effect a Dementor's Kiss would have on a person who had split his or her soul through use of a Horcrux. It is also possible that the soul is trapped inside the Dementor, thus the victim in unable to pass on. This is probably what "worse than death" is. The only Kiss portrayed in the books occurred in 1995; Barty Crouch Jr, who had been working in secret for Voldemort, and was restrained at Hogwarts awaiting trial. His soul was sucked out by the Dementor accompanying Cornelius Fudge as a bodyguard. The unfortunate consequence of this act was that it rendered Crouch unable to testify about his master's return, allowing Voldemort almost a full year to gather strength while the Ministry continued in its denial. Protection from Dementors Patronus Charm No one has ever demonstrated the ability to kill a Dementor, by Avada Kedavra or otherwise, implying that they can not be killed through physical means, but can only be driven away or temporarily kept at bay. One of the few ways to shield oneself from Dementors is by the very difficult Patronus Charm to fend them off. The charm summons a Patronus, a magical manifestation of good will and happiness, providing varied levels of protection against the Dementors' influence, based on the caster's strength as a wizard. With sufficient ability, a single wizard can hold off dozens, if not hundreds, of Dementors with a single corporeal Patronus, as Harry Potter demonstrated during his third year at Hogwarts when he drove off a big horde of Dementors seeking to consume Hermione Granger, Sirius Black, and Harry's past self. As the Patronus is not alive, the Dementor cannot feed on it. Only when summoned by an experienced caster will the Patronus take the form of an animal significant in some way to the individual. While the lower level Patronus was more amorphous and ephemeral, corporeal Patronuses chase down Dementors and force them to flee the vicinity. An incorporeal Patronus only slows a Dementor down, as if the creature is walking through quicksand, and tends not to last long. Other Since Dementors can not properly sense the less complex thoughts and emotions of a person when he or she takes on an Animagus form, doing so allowed some, such as Sirius Black, to temporarily avoid feeling the effects of the Dementors' presence. When they sensed the less-than-human thoughts of his Animagus form, the Dementors simply thought Sirius was losing his mind. Though clearly not a common method of repelling Dementors, the enigmatic form people take after being brought back by the Resurrection Stone appears to function much like a Patronus, as the 'resurrected' forms of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and James and Lily Potter were able to shield Harry Potter from the Dementors that Voldemort had stationed in the Forbidden Forest in 1998. There may be another, more common way of repelling a Dementor, aside from the Patronus Charm, as Harry Potter disagreed with Professor Snape on the best method for confronting one when it was the subject of a report in his sixth year. This implies that there are, indeed, other methods. The mood-enhancing properties of chocolate are well known in both the Muggle and wizard worlds. Chocolate is the perfect antidote for anyone who has been overcome in the presence of Dementors, which suck hope and happiness out of their surroundings. Chocolate can only be a short-term remedy, however. Finding ways to fight off Dementors — or depression — are essential if one is to become permanently happier. Excessive chocolate consumption cannot benefit either Muggle or wizard. Dark Wizards cannot produce Patronuses. However, they do not need to do so in the first place, as they are like-minded in evil. Voldemort even states that they are natural allies. Media File:Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) - Dementor on the Train|Dementor on the Train File:Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - The Dementors by the lake| Dementors by the Lake File:Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Dudley demented|Dudley Demented Etymology The English word dementor is used generically to refer to any evil or fearsome creature. The word ultimately derives from the Latin dēmēns, meaning "to be insane". Behind the scenes *J. K. Rowling has revealed that the inspiration for Dementors came from her bout with severe depression before her phenomenal success.[http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0600-times-treneman.html 30 June 2000 interview from The Times]"Inside the Magical World of J.K. Rowling" from ABCNews.comShe described the feeling as an "absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad." *In an attempt to sabotage Harry during a Quidditch match in 1994, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Marcus Flint dressed up as Dementors to scare him. Malfoy was standing on Goyle's shoulders. Considering how tall Dementors are (they are described in Prisoner of Azkaban as reaching from the floor to the ceiling on the Hogwarts Express), the foursome appear to account for two Dementors, when just a few pages earlier, Harry saw three Dementors. (Although Marcus Flint, as an older student — in his seventh year — may have been tall enough to pass as a Dementor without someone on his shoulders.) However, their attempt failed when Harry cast a Patronus Charm at them. *The Dementors in the film series seem to possess the ability to fly, whereas in the book they only seem to glide. **Because of this, the corporeal Patronus Charm in seems to work differently by sending a pulse at the Dementors flying in the air rather than charging at them on the ground. *Animatronic Dementors appear in at , chasing the riders' flying bench through the Chamber of Secrets and around the skeleton of the Basilisk. The Dark Mark appears along with them, suggesting that a Death Eater summoned them to Hogwarts. *Dementors are often compared to the Nazgûl from , as well as the Spectres from . They can also be compared to the Ra'zac of The Inheritance Cycle in that the foul breath of the Ra'zac engenders terror and lethargy in humans, though the Ra'zac cannot be repelled by a simple charm, nor are they are amortal spirits that cannot be truly destroyed. *According to W.O.M.B.A.T., Dementors may be unknown in tropical regions. *In , a large Dementor serves as the final boss of Year 3. *J.K. Rowling has said that Dementors don't breed, but grow like fungi where there is decay; and are functionally immortal in terms of age.http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-canadianpress-moore.htm *The Dementors' appearances (tall corpse-like beings wearing tattered black cloaks) is very similar to popular depictions of the Grim Reaper. Because of this, some readers assumed Dementors were incarnations of death rather than depression; the concept was very notably used in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. *In , Aberforth repels the attacking Dementors in the Battle of Hogwarts with a wave-like Patronus, similar to the one cast by Harry in the film version of Prisoner of Azkaban. *Dementors and the Dementor's Kiss exhibit interesting parallels to Lord Voldemort and the spell that creates a Horcrux: **The Dementor's Kiss sucks out a victim's soul, while the Horcrux spell allows part of the caster's soul to be broken off. Total soul removal results in something similar to a Persistent Vegetative State and is irreversible, while creating a Horcrux reduces the humanity of the caster, both in terms of morality/behaviour and appearance (evidenced by the once handsome Tom Marvolo Riddle becoming monstrous and snake-like in appearance over time). The damage of creating a Horcrux may be undone through remorse, but the process is so painful it can be fatal. **The victim of a Dementor's Kiss cannot become a ghost, since the soul has been lost. Presumably, the victim also cannot enter the afterlife, or possibly even Limbo. Similarly, the maker of a Horcrux cannot die, while the Horcrux(es) is/are intact, and if an unrepentant Horcrux maker is killed, he or she is trapped in Limbo and cannot enter the afterlife. *In , Lupin states "the only people that know what's under a Dementor's hood are in no state to tell us (being soulless)" but from the 5th movie and onward, they are shown without any hood at all. This is likely due to change of directors. *A species of wasp, , is named after the Dementor. This name was chosen to reflect the fact that the wasp uses a toxin to neutralise the neural behaviour of cockroaches and make them docile, as if they had had their souls sucked out."The Soul-Sucking Wasp by Popular Acclaim – Museum Visitor Participation in Biodiversity Discovery and Taxonomy" - PLOS ONE *For the films they initially created puppets for the Dementors which were operated underwater to give them their floating on air effect. Ultimately these did not appear in the final edit and CGI Dementors were used instead. *Interestingly despite being considered natural allies to dark wizards, the Dementors did not side with the Death Eaters in the First Wizarding War. *Some weeks nefore the release of the first film adaptation of FDantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Pottermore Featured "Beasts of the week" The Dementor was the "Beast of the Week" on 21st September 2016, though Dementors are non-beings. (spirits) Foreign words for Dementor *'Albanian': "Marroses" *'Bulgarian: '"Диментор" *'Catalan': "Demèntor" (pronounced duh-MEN-toor) *'Chinese': ** Taiwan: 催狂魔 - cuīkuángmó - "drive-mad devil/demon" ** Mainland: 摄魂怪 - shèhúnguài - "suck-soul devil/monster" * Czech: "mozkomor" - "plague of the brain" * Danish: '''"Dementor" * '''Dutch: "Dementor" * Finnish: "ankeuttaja", from "ankeus" - "drearyness" * French: "détraqueur" - "that which makes (things) go wrong or break down" * German: "Dementor" * Georgian: დემენტორი (დემენტორები); (pronounced dementori, plural: dementorebi) * Greek: '''"Παράφρονας" (pronounced "Parafronas") - from Greek "παράφρων" meaning "mentally ill". * '''Hebrew: "סוהרסן" - from "סוהר" ("prison warden") and "הרסן" ("destructive") * Hindi (India): दमपिशाच (damapishācha or dampishāch) - from dama = "house" and pishācha (a type of Hindu demon: see ). * Hungarian: "Dementor" * Icelandic: "Vitsuga" - The one who sucks out your mind, or sense of anything. * Indonesian: "iblis" - "demon of death and happiness remover"; see wikipedia:Iblis * Italian: "dissennatore" - "he who takes sanity away", from senno meaning 'mental sanity' * Japanese: ** ディメンター - dimentā ** 吸魂鬼 - "kyūkonki" - suck-soul ghost/demon (modeled after East Asian words for vampires) * Lithuanian: "Psichas" - Mental/Psycho * Latvian: 'Atprātotājs * '''Macedonian: 'Дементор * '''Norwegian: "Desperant" - One that brings out despair * Persian: "دیوانه ساز" - Maddening * Polish: "Dementor" * Portuguese: ** Brazilian: "Dementador" ** European: "Dementor" (plural: "Dementores") * Romanian: "Dementor" * Russian: '''"Дементор" (plural: Дементоры) * '''Slovak: "Dementor" * Slovenian: '''"Morakvar" * '''Spanish: "Dementor" * Swedish: "Dementor" * Thai: "ผู้คุมวิญญาณ" - "Poo-khum-win-yarn" - Soul Warden * Turkish: "Ruh Emici" - "soul-suckers" * Ukrainian: "Дементор" (plural: Дементори) * Vietnamese: "giám ngục Azkaban" - "prison guards of Azkaban" Appearances * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * See also *Lethifold *Azkaban Notes and references es:Dementor fr:Détraqueur pl:Dementor ru:Дементор he:סוהרסן fi:Ankeuttaja nl:Dementor ja:吸魂鬼 Category:Azkaban Category:Battle of Hogwarts participants Category:Death Eater allies Category:Dementors Category:Non-beings Category:Amortals